Welcome! I'm glad you're here.
If you've found your way to this blog, chances are you're either related to me, work with me, attend church with me, or have somehow discovered something I've written. At the time of this writing, my novel The Timeless Playground is due to be released in two days. TWO DAYS!!! That's crazy.
The Timeless Playground is such a personal story that it's nerve-racking knowing others are about to read it. But I'm also excited! I pray that God uses this book to help others who've lost children find peace, knowing that He holds them in His arms and we'll see them again. I would appreciate it if you could join me in this prayer.
You can tell a lot about an author by what they've written. But you know what else can tell you a lot about an author? The author!
Who is Bradford Combs?
Bradford Combs is someone who loves to read! He also loves kids, cats, dogs, the Cincinnati Bengals, and he's coming around on the Reds. He loves his family tremendously. But most importantly, he loves the Lord.
That last bit is significant because, as a writer, I've had to decide what types of stories I want to write. What sort of things would I want others to associate with my name? Ultimately, I realized I want my writings to reflect who I am as a Christian. If my writings were to cause others to stumble, they aren't worth writing. And so, who I am as a writer is one who writes to honor the Lord. Does that mean people are getting saved every book? That there aren't any dark or even disturbing moments? Of course not. But my stories will always be written in a manner that honors the Lord. In that, you have my promise.
Is The Timeless Playground my first novel?
No, actually. But I wouldn't bother searching for the others. You can find them on Amazon, but they aren't available for purchase. The books in question are Cicada Song, Not Quite Home, From the Ruin of Extinction, The Adventures of Flitter & Plank, and Flitter & Plank 2: A Pixie Problem.
When I was younger, I self-published those novels to see them in print and hold them in my hands. But I was still learning to write, and those books needed to be up to snuff. When I realized that strangers were downloading them, I began pulling them down to edit, continually fixing them as I improved as a writer. They became readable in time, and one even began picking up steam. I considered starting a genuine writing career at the time, but I had no idea who I wanted to be as a writer, and I had a lot of growing up to do both as an author and as a person in general. Needless to say, my publication efforts were premature. Hence, the books were eventually made unavailable while I worked on myself.
After some rewrites and many edits, I might rerelease them someday, but I'm undecided on that for now. At the moment, those five books serve as mere stepping stones toward me becoming the writer I am today. While I still adore them, they are stories better served tucked away in a desk drawer with the potential of being remade into something better in time. I am certainly grateful for them, in any case. That will always be true.
What does my writing future look like?
The short answer is that I'm still deciding. I plan to spend significant time writing novels and short stories from here on out. But I also love working as an elementary school custodian (pristine, I know). So, the idea of writing as a full-time job gives me pause. It's not that I wouldn't love it, but I love doing both this writing gig and making children laugh as I clean up their adorable little messes.
The highest likelihood is that I will write part-time and continue working as a custodian full-time. That means that, rather than releasing multiple books a year, I might release a book every year and a half or two years. I will also attempt to have short stories published through magazines and online sources. And hopefully, you'll stay along for the ride. And if by the grace of God, a traditional publisher becomes interested in my work, I'd have to reevaluate at that time and seek God's direction. What an excellent problem that would be, though.
Regarding genre, I lean toward speculative fiction with more of a paranormal or fantasy bent (The Timeless Playground is in this vein). But I also love a good slice-of-life story set in the real world dealing with real problems. I'll likely play with both of these semi-regularly.
Once I get my newsletter up and running, I intend to allow people to choose the genres they like, and that way, if you prefer a particular genre, you'll get email updates on my writings about that genre alone. Hopefully, I'll have that set up very soon.
And that's a little about me.
Pretty simple, really. I could go on and on about myself, but why bore you? If you stick around, I'm sure you'll learn about me and my family, history, views, and reading preferences. But for now, this simple introduction will have to do.
Be aware that I also have an author page on Facebook and am in the process of getting a newsletter going (as previously mentioned). It might already be functioning, depending on when you read this. Check the bottom of the page for more info on that. I'll likely broaden my online footprint in the coming months, but that will take time.
Please feel free to reach out and say hello. I'd love to hear from you.
God bless,
Bradford Combs
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